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The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

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Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#11

Post by _Microft »

msluyter wrote: post #7

Apparently "solarpunk" is now the zietgiest. Here's another interesting one: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/drawing-pictures-of-cities

I think why solarpunk seems to come into vogue is that it is often displaying so much more livable and humane cities than we have right now. The same goes for its ornamental design that contrasts so much with the clinically sterile look of products and designs nowadays - especially the ones that are coming out of the Silicon Valley at the moment (UIs with grey-on-white designs and no embellishments, the look of voice assistent devices, speakers, watches, SpaceX' flight suits/launch towers, Cybertruck,...).

PS: The spelling is actually "Zeitgeist" if you ever need to search for that (even though I would assume that search engines would deal with the typos just fine).

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#13

Post by Majestic121 »

ThinkingGuy wrote: post #12

I love the solarpunk aesthetic, but hasn't Roger Dean been doing this since the 1970s? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Roger+Dean+art&iar=images

He seems to be from the same generation as Luc Schuiten from the article (both born in 44)

The main difference would be that Dean forcused more on the art, while Schuiten focused more on the architecture part, but both seem pretty close indeed, and I would not be surprised if they knew each other

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#14

Post by mellavora »

naravara wrote: post #3
gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #2

Very cool, but I don’t want to dwell on all the bugs one would swallow cycling through one of these cities.

I'd actually have to imagine the bug count wouldn't be that much worse than a typical city, replete with flies and mosquitoes from the abundance of humans and human food waste to feed on. If anything the bug problem might be slightly improved since the ecology would be friendlier to things that eat bugs, such as frogs, lizards, and bats. Of course, then you've got the problem of frogs and lizards getting into your ho…

Bolivian tree lizard cleanup plan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9yruQM1ggc

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#15

Post by mellavora »

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #2

Very cool, but I don’t want to dwell on all the bugs one would swallow cycling through one of these cities.

I used to get a lot of bugs on my windshield driving through Germany. That stopped in 2014. No more bugs.

Bug populations are down 80%, anything we do to help them is needed.

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#16

Post by parentheses »

gmueckl wrote: post #10

This is the first time I hear the term "solarpunk". So this seems to encompass visions of an optimistic future when exploitation of nature, pollution, climate change etc. And strikingly, looking up the definition made me feel an almost juvenile excitement about an idea again which I haven't experienced in a long time. That made me realize that most contemporary visions of the near(er) future seem so bleak and dreadfu…

I feel the same way. My SOs reaction to VR was so viscerally negative. Once I probed it was clearly driven by trends of dystopian futures.

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#17

Post by worldsayshi »

nynx wrote: post #9

In many contexts, solarpunk is related to anarcho-communism and gift-economies. It can be difficult to see how a solarpunk-like society could sustainably grow directly out of our current economic system.

I think the seed for it lives in the open/free/libre source dream. If we can make it easy enough to produce what we need with open source tools then we don't need global capitalism.

In many regards we're far from that dream but having a concretisation of what the end result could look like (and/or depictions of how to get there) in the shape of Solarpunk should help.

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#18

Post by motohagiography »

Solarpunk I suspect is more important that we know, because I think rich subcultures are the seeds of massive growth.

It's just some funny drawings and internet fanfic twigging our sense of novelty on HN now, but when you see it as representing the desires and longings of young people for wilderness, and also know people who left cities in the last 10y, they were the thin edge of the wedge, where post-pandemic, younger people are leaving cities to get on the real estate ladder, with remote work and amazon-style supply chains, and they are family-inclined. It incorporates passive and renewable energy techs, argritech, biotech, cannabis-driven value added production, organic and small scale food production, brewing and distilling, civic minded prepping, local vs. global, etc.

I'm interested in when solarpunk blips on the radar because to me it is an aesthetic that represents new growth.

Re: The Imaginarium of a Solarpunk Architect

#20

Post by twoquestions »

Most of the things in this article are deliberately avoided in cities these days. Sufficient seating, public transport, and walkable streets make things easier for poor/homeless/other untouchables, and making their lives worse is prioritized above making the space better.

If we can fix that, we'd be well on our way to realizing better living spaces like the artist (among many others, myself included) dreams of.

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